Open Letter on the Newmarket Crisis
TEMPLATE LETTER TO OFFICIALS
This is a template letter you can send to Newmarket officials (see bottom of that GOOGLE DOC for their contact info). We strongly encourage you to edit and add your own commentary, as politicians’ email accounts can sometimes filter out emails that have the same text copy-pasted.
BACKGROUND
on Town of Newmarket Bylaw 2020–31
Asian women working in Newmarket massage businesses are facing a devastating new threat to their livelihoods: Bylaw-2020–31, which requires so-called ‘alternative massage businesses’ without registered massage therapists (RMT) to obtain a Personal Wellness Establishment (PWE) license. If this bylaw remains in place, the consequences for the workers will be disastrous.
Due to language barriers and high prices for formal courses, massage workers in Asian businesses rarely have RMT certification, instead training abroad or gaining skills and experience through years on the job. Every Asian business in Newmarket needs to obtain a PWE license. Butterfly and these businesses have tried to work with the town to ensure we are operating legally; however, they have deliberately made it impossible.
Every application from the Asian businesses we’re working with have been rejected or labelled incomplete. When contacted with follow-up questions, the town will not provide a list of criteria or accredited institutions, insisting that their decisions are made on a “case-by-case” basis. We know what that means. It’s all too clear who will be accepted and who will not. The town is actively trying to shut down legitimate Asian massage businesses, claiming that these businesses present a risk of trafficking — this claim is unsubstantiated and does not reflect the experience and testimonies of the women who own and/or work in these establishments.
The following open letter was written by Butterfly and Asian workers in Newmarket in response to the bylaw. It is intended for individuals and social justice organizations with influence in or around the Town of Newmarket who believe in women’s and migrants’ rights, who support their autonomy, and who recognize the heightened risks faced by low-income women and women of colour. In a system intended to silence and subjugate them, the workers are speaking up. We ask that you listen and stand with them.
OPEN LETTER
to gender-based violence / violence against women / social justice organizations and allies in Newmarket and surrounding areas
We are speaking now out of desperation and the hope that someone will hear us.
The Town of Newmarket pretends to listen to us but continues to infantilize, demonize and endanger us. They make decisions they claim are good for us but that only serve them. We can only hope that this time, our voices will be carried from the margins into the spotlight.
We have no illusions about the barriers we face in life — we are low-income Asian migrant women constantly profiled by police, we face debt after two years out of work during the pandemic, and most of us speak limited or no English — but until recently, our spirit has been strong. This bylaw is changing that and testing the limits of our strength. How much more fear and abuse do we have to endure before we can simply live and work in peace?
Politicians will tell you we are victims of human trafficking because it is the narrative that suits them, justifying the endless attempts to shut us down, to flush us out. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: we are not trafficking victims. We have limited job opportunities without English fluency, and we choose our work because the conditions are better than our other options. The flexible hours let us care for our families. We take pride in our work and earn our living with our hands. Some of us may engage in sex work, and others may not. This should not and does not matter when it comes to our basic rights. If there is a moral threat in Newmarket, it is not coming from us but from the politicians and police who created this bylaw and who continue to punish us just for existing.
Many of us have worked in Newmarket for a long time, some of us for more than 10 years. Newmarket is our home and community, and we want to live here in peace. But this bylaw is taking an unbearable toll on our lives. We live in fear every day — for ourselves, our livelihoods, and our families. The city threatens us with daily fines of $4,000–5,000 for remaining open without licenses that we know they will not give us. Tickets are left on our doors, driving away our clients.
All of this comes on top of the standard police harassment and intimidation all Asian massage workers face. They wait outside our businesses, taking photos. They send undercover officers to solicit sex work, which some of us feel pressured to provide, then fine us up to $1,800. They barge into our businesses claiming we are operating illegally, but they won’t let us defend ourselves because we don’t speak fluent English. They won’t even wait for a translator. Police deny they are racially profiling us, yet we are met with a level of paternalism, condescension, disrespect and straight-up abuse faced by no other businesses in Newmarket. We cannot take one more ticket, not one more fine, not one more police invasion.
If Newmarket politicians had their way, our businesses would shutter and we would all be run out of town or be forced into jobs that no one else wants to work. These jobs, like the personal support positions suggested by councillor Christina Bisanz, have low pay, long hours, and awful conditions. Rather than take those jobs, which would be impossible for those of us who are older or have physical challenges, we would be pushed to continue our work underground, placing us in worse danger than before.
Frankly, we feel utterly lost at this point. We are on the brink of hopelessness, exhausted from fighting to survive each day in systems built to keep us down. But we are also determined and know we are in the right. We hold onto a sliver of hope that the public and advocacy groups will hear us and use their platforms and voices to amplify ours.
Even now, we are terrified to speak up out of fear that it will only bring more police to our door. No one — not police, not politicians, not even the public — needs to be our saviour. We do not ask for your pity, only your support. Do not listen to the city’s claims that they want to protect us. Do not let them make our livelihoods illegal. Listen to us when we say that law enforcement are our primary aggressors and abusers, that those who claim to protect us only endanger us more.
We are not dishonourable trash to be cleansed from the city. We are not expendable labourers who can be coerced into the back-breaking, low-paying jobs they think we deserve. We are not helpless trafficking victims in need of rescue. We are human beings who can choose our own path, make our own decisions, and support ourselves with dignity if they’ll only let us.
To those who believe in and advocate for human rights, we ask that you hear us, remember us and include us in your work — not as voiceless victims who must be saved but as autonomous allies who can speak for ourselves. We are not voiceless. This is our voice, and we are asking you to stand with us.
Help us by using your power, position, platform, and connections to speak up to Mayor Taylor, Newmarket councillors, the MPP and MP for Newmarket-Aurora, and other officials. Tell them:
- Listen to us when we tell you we are not trafficking victims — we are speaking, but they choose not to hear.
- Drop the existing charges and cancel our tickets. Stop sending law enforcement to profile and charge us, undercover or otherwise.
- Remove the absurd licensing bylaw that is clearly intended to drive us out of business.
- Stop targeting Asian and other massage workers and sex workers, eliminate the discrimination against us, recognize our value, and promote inclusivity and equality for the whole community.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your support.
